I have the blurb and two excerpts below, but before I get to that, I want to talk really quickly about not believing in something vs. believing in possibilities. I've copied and pasted part of my dedication here: I dedicate this novella to my wife, Melanie, to our cats, Dopey and Flirt, and to our dog, Chester. Dopey died during the writing of this novella, which is ironic in a way because the character of Mrs. Purr was already in full force as a combination of Dopey and Flirt. In Mrs. Purr, part of Dopey will always live on. Part of Flirt, too. I don’t believe in abracadabra magic, but there is no denying that after Dopey died, Flirt (who is a year younger than Dopey) started taking on many of Dopey’s behaviors—behaviors Flirt had never done. Who knows, maybe magic does exist.

This novella will always remain super extra special to me for the above reason.

OK! Blurb time:

Ava
Van Dorn doesn’t believe in magic, but she believes in possibilities. So, she
figures trying a love spell her grandmother left her won’t hurt. Worst case:
her life will stay the same. Best case: her fellow second-grade teacher James
Friedlander will fall in love with her, and they’ll live happily ever after.

Except…oops!

Ava
accidentally places the spell on her principal, Libby Lubbock. Libby is
wrestling with her own issues in the love department, namely the fact that
she’s deciding whether to give her ex a second chance after the ex cheated.
Libby is beginning to think she’s the type who is better off single.

The
spell can be undone, but it requires Ava and Libby getting to know each other
better. Lots better. Libby agrees to the undo because no way does she want to
fall in love with Ava if she can help it. However, perhaps the last paragraph
in a letter Ava's grandmother wrote is right: “Why all these crazy steps? My
great-great grandmother, the witch, strongly believed that things happen for a
reason. This time with the ‘wrong person’ will help determine if the wrong
person might be the right person, after all.”

Can
Libby and Ava cast a love spell that has nothing to do with abracadabra magic
and everything to do with the magic of true love?

Excerpt One (from Chapter One):

“I
have a surprise,” I said. “Hope it cheers you up.”

James
beamed. “You’re the best.”

Now
for the spell. It was quite simple. All I had to do at this point was recite
the words: I want this person to fall in
love with me, o gods, please have this person fall in love with me forever and
ever. I could say the words out loud or mentally. Didn’t matter. Then I had
to touch the person of my desire in the next minute—before I touched anyone
else. Before anyone else touched me.

I
proffered my surprise, a package of Reese’s Cups. “Ta-da!” I stepped forth and
ran through the words in my head: I want
this person to fall in love with me, o gods, please have this person fall in
love with me forever and ever.

I
rushed over to James and jammed the candy into his hand. I didn’t care if the
touch was obvious. Please, please! Spell
gods, whoever you are, I’m touching James now! This man, not Libby, is the
person I want to fall in love with me. Listen! Listen!

Excerpt Two (from Chapter Nine)

“Oh.”
My tongue tasted like gall. My thoughts tasted like gall. I could say an “I’m
sorry,” but it would be of no use. And I wasn’t sure what I was sorry for.
Rotten timing? Me being an ass? Ellen asking Libby for a second chance? Libby
telling me about Ellen now instead of in the morning—and therefore denying me
one grand night before Libby reached into my chest and seized my beating heart?

“Ellen
and I are not dating. Not technically. And…” Libby clenched her teeth. “Geez,
Ava. I don’t know. I’m not perfect. I haven’t had sex in more than a year, and
I like you. You know that. I’ve liked you a long time. It took all I had to…to
not let things progress like they would have Friday night. I thought you were
kind of experimenting. Questioning your sexuality. Aren’t you? Look, no
offense, but I’m not a science project.”

I
scoffed, mostly to cover up the fact that tiny tears stung my eyes. “Didn’t you
hear what I said earlier? You and the spell helped me realize some things.”

“I
appreciate that. I do, really. However, maybe a week from now, or a month from
now, or a year from now, you’ll realize otherwise. I’m thirty-seven. I’m too
old for these kinds of risks. These kinds of games.”

“I
can’t, I can’t…I can’t come with someone else. I’ve never been able to. I can’t
lose myself. I always have to focus. Like, I’m doing this now, what should I do
next, step A, step B, step C, that kind of stuff. But I never tried the…what we
did Friday. I came with you. I lost myself in what you were doing. My brain
didn’t get in the way. That’s huge to me. You have no idea.”

1 comment:

Anonymous
said...

My name is lisa, from Montreal ,Canada. I never believed in love spells or magic until i met this spell caster once when i went to Africa in Febuary this year on a business summit. I meant a man who’s name is DR. WIHE he is really powerful and could help cast spells to bring back one’s gone, lost, misbehaving lover and magic money spell or spell for a good job or luck spell .I’m now happy & a living testimony cos the man i had wanted to marry left me 3 weeks before our wedding and my life was upside down cos our relationship has been on for 3years. I really loved him, but his mother was against us and he had no good paying job. So when i met this spell caster, i told him what happened and explained the situation of things to him. At first i was undecided, skeptical and doubtful, but i just gave it a try. And in 6 days when i returned to Canada, my boyfriend(now husband) called me by himself and came to me apologizing that everything had been settled with his mom and family and he got a new job interview so we should get married. I didn’t believe it cos the spell caster only asked for my name and my boyfriends name and all i wanted him to do. Well we are happily married now and we are expecting our little kid, and my husband also got the new job and our lives became much better.accspelltemple@gmail.com